As the title suggests, the idea is to {{w|Classical conditioning|condition}} animals to respond to a thumping bass. The machine would work as follows: every few hours, the bass would turn on, and the box would dispense food behind an opening designed to look like an open car window. Over time, local wildlife would flock to the box to get the food from inside, and would soon realise that the bread crumbs are dispensed only after the subwoofer is activated. Eventually, the animals would associate a thumping bass with food, and would approach such a noise in groups.

As the title suggests, the idea is to {{w|Classical conditioning|condition}} animals to respond to a thumping bass. The machine would work as follows: every few hours, the bass would turn on, and the box would dispense food behind an opening designed to look like an open car window. Over time, local wildlife would flock to the box to get the food from inside, and would soon realise that the bread crumbs are dispensed only after the subwoofer is activated. Eventually, the animals would associate a thumping bass with food, and would approach such a noise in groups.

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The end result would be that the local wildlife would approach ,and presumably attempt to enter, any car that has that same thumping bass. Drivers, in turn, would cease to turn up their music in order to prevent the groups of animals from chasing after their cars, thus solving the problem of annoyingly loud bass. This behavior modification can itself be seen as a form of {{w|Classical conditioning|classical conditioning}}.

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The end result would be that the local wildlife would approach, and presumably attempt to enter, any car that has that same thumping bass. Drivers, in turn, would cease to turn up their music in order to prevent the groups of animals from chasing after their cars, thus solving the problem of annoyingly loud bass. This behavior modification can itself be seen as a form of {{w|Classical conditioning|classical conditioning}}.

The title text is a dialogue about using a similar method of conditioning to send animals after the Pope.

The title text is a dialogue about using a similar method of conditioning to send animals after the Pope.

Revision as of 19:42, 4 January 2013

Title text: 'Why are you standing in the yard wearing a papal hat and a robe covered in seeds?' 'Well, the Pope is visiting our town next month ...'

Explanation

Herein, the author devises a method of addressing the issue of drivers who turn up their music to irritating levels which usually results in a lot of bass coming from the car - the low frequencies being the ones that most easily penetrate the car and travel further, thus being more audible to those around the car.

As the title suggests, the idea is to condition animals to respond to a thumping bass. The machine would work as follows: every few hours, the bass would turn on, and the box would dispense food behind an opening designed to look like an open car window. Over time, local wildlife would flock to the box to get the food from inside, and would soon realise that the bread crumbs are dispensed only after the subwoofer is activated. Eventually, the animals would associate a thumping bass with food, and would approach such a noise in groups.

The end result would be that the local wildlife would approach, and presumably attempt to enter, any car that has that same thumping bass. Drivers, in turn, would cease to turn up their music in order to prevent the groups of animals from chasing after their cars, thus solving the problem of annoyingly loud bass. This behavior modification can itself be seen as a form of classical conditioning.

The title text is a dialogue about using a similar method of conditioning to send animals after the Pope.

Discussion

... the main problem with this idea is that the probability of any particular driver to driver repeately around that place is not so high. Of course, if similarly conditioned animals would be on multiple places ... -- Hkmaly (talk) 08:48, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Depending on the animal (species), and assuming a stable or growing "local wildlife" population, the conditioned ones may 1) eventually fan out (including migration) and teach other individuals or 2) breed, teach their offspring, and the offspring will fan out. Eventually -- we can only hope -- the average density EVERYWHERE per square mile of individuals would be above a given threshold to be effective 24/7. Problem solved! --BigMal27 / 192.136.15.177 12:19, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Up the ante in rural areas by using not crumbs, but bacon, or deer musk ... nah, that would be evil.24.79.11.46 13:18, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

If anything this would just get drivers to close their windows and not solve the problem because loud bass still penetrates car windows. 12.235.98.130 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

If I were a bass-loving driver, I still wouldn't want birds and squirrels (et cetera) coming at my car! Better to kill the "music" or avoid the area. But it appears to be a hollow victory due to the comment below. --BigMal27 / 192.136.15.178 20:50, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

The general problem I see: once drivers get educated, animal conditioning has to be kept up, or animals will forget about basses, which would be the exact same nuisance it is trying to address. Otherwise, wildlive would forget to associate basses with food, and thus fail to educate drivers. Kind of a Volterra cycle. Edit: the paragraph before is not mine, someone forgot to sign.46.142.12.21 18:59, 4 January 2013 (UTC) madd

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but wouldn't attracting lots of animals towards cars with thumping bass lead to a lot more road kill? Which wouldn't really be a desired side-effect of the machine... 46.142.12.21 18:59, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Of course the conditioning has to be kept up! That's why you run the machine while you are AT WORK! --Schmammel

The side effect of "Road Kill" would also contribute to the desired response... most dirvers who listen to excessive base (music) tend to also not want to hit or splatter an animal across their vehicle (don't see a lot of Pickup Trucks with gun racks thumping out the base) MIRanger (talk) MIRanger

Eh, doubt any drivers would make the connection with their music without, say, explanatory signage ("birds here attack loud cars!")... They'd probably just think the local wildlife went after cars in general. 98.201.111.246 00:03, 3 February 2013 (UTC)mr

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